this really is the year of a million dreams

Newport Beach - even the sea birds there are wealthier and more svelte. This is one of the least mangy sea birds I've ever seen!
















Fireworks over Snow White's castle at Disneyland.















Sorry the photo is blurry - but when have you ever seen the sign for Space Mountain (one of the most popular rides at Disneyland) say 'Approximate Wait Time: 1 Minute'?!

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I don't think there are any words to describe how blissfully happy I am right now. I think it's quite likely that I've burned out some key pleasure receptors in my brain and will never be this exhaustedly thrilled again. And I didn't even have a single alcoholic beverage - I'm drunk on sheer pleasure!

The day started off tame, but lovely - Joy, Katrina and I set off for Newport Beach, where we wandered around for a couple of hours and had lunch. It turns out we could have left earlier - all three of us acted like hermits last night, and so were up early today, but assumed that the others would sleep in later after having partied the night before. The beach was quite pretty, and it would be nice to live in one of the little beachfront homes in that area, if I had millions of dollars. After spending some time there, we came back to Anaheim and went to Disneyland around 4pm. I was expecting to ride some rides, eat some food, and turn in early. Boy, was I wrong.

I have become quite spoiled and jaded by the parties my company throws - at the last Christmas party, Oniel was v. impressed, but I thought that there weren't enough food varieties or DJ options, etc. However, my childlike wonder returned today, full-force, in time to make this the most surreal last day one could ever have before a sabbatical.

This may help to explain: I rode Space Mountain SEVEN TIMES!!!

I've never been to Disneyland before, and I don't think I can ever come again - this has completely spoiled me for the normal Disneyland experience. When I got there around 4pm, I hung out with Katrina and Joy - we rode Pirates of the Caribbean, where there was no real line, and enjoyed ourselves, but they didn't want to go on any rollercoasters. I decided that I wanted to go on at least one, so I parted ways with them. I proceeded to hit up virtually every major ride in the park, most of them several times.

Basically, my company rented the park out after 7pm - everyone else was kicked out at 7pm, but we all had special wristbands that enabled us to stay until 1am. Also, after 8pm, all the food in Disneyland was free (free!). They also did a fireworks show at 9:25pm. And because there were about 15x fewer people there than normal, the most I waited for any ride was five minutes; the biggest pain was just getting off the exit of a ride and walking the five minutes back to the start of the ride to do it again.

My ride tally was:
Space Mountain - 7 (including two 2-peats)
Pirates of the Caribbean - 4 (on the last one, some guy in my boat actually got of the boat - he was clearly drunk, but surprisingly didn't get escorted out)
Thunder Mountain - 3 (including one 2-peat)
Matterhorn - 2
Splash Mountain - 1 (I was the only person on this ride, which was really creepy - no other humans, just a bunch of insane-looking animatronic beasts)
Haunted Mansion - 1
The Star Wars ride that almost made me throw up - 1, miserably
Some astro-shooting game - 1
Rather lame 'Honey I Shrunk the Audience' - 1, only because it was right by Space Mountain and I needed a break so I wouldn't vomit

I quite luckily spent some quality time with some of the people whom I've either worked the most closely with or been friends with for the longest at work - I ran into Tolu, Joann, Jen, and Joann on one of my Space Mountain rides, and spent several hours going on a variety of rides with them. I also spent some quality time with Sean, Fred, and Evan. And, it was great to hang out with Joy and Katrina - I want to be much better friends with both of them, and the afternoon with them was v. lovely. However, none of it was really bittersweet, which I think is a good sign - I'm going to miss these people, but I'm also quite eager to begin the next chapter of my life, even if the chapter after that brings me back here.

But I can't really think about the future, when I am still completely and utterly in love with Space Mountain. I am not so in love with how weird my stomach feels after having been on so many rollercoasters from 6pm to 1am, with a break only for french fries, fried chicken, and half a hot dog, but seriously - closing out my job by riding Space Mountain two times in a row at 1am with Fred and Sean was enough to blow my mind.

Okay, I will never capture how amazing this whole evening was - it was like being a little kid, only there were no lines and so the gratification was instant and awesome. But even though I want to be a writer, my words completely fail me right now. You'll just have to trust me that it was a truly magical experience, and a crazy, perfect way to start my sabbatical.

Now, it's time to go to bed, if I can actually get to sleep - I am driving to San Diego tomorrow to see Tammy, which is guaranteed to burn out my pleasure sensors if Space Mountain hasn't done it already. I hope you are all having a smashing week!